Difference between revisions of "Dinah"

<p> <strong> DINAH </strong> . The daughter of Jacob by Leah, and sister of Simeon and Levi, according to &nbsp; [[Genesis]] 30:21 . </p> <p> This verse appears to have been inserted by a late redactor perhaps the one who added the section &nbsp;Genesis 46:8-27 (cf. &nbsp; Genesis 46:15 ). Nothing is said in &nbsp; Genesis 29:31 to &nbsp; Genesis 30:24 , &nbsp; Genesis 35:16 ff., where the birth stories of Jacob’s children are given, of other daughters of Jacob; but &nbsp; Genesis 37:35 (J [Note: Jahwist.] ) and &nbsp; Genesis 46:7 (P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] ) speak of ‘all his daughters.’ P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] , moreover, clearly distinguishes between his ‘daughters’ and his ‘daughters-in-law.’ </p> <p> In &nbsp;Genesis 34:1-31 we have a composite narrative of the seizure of [[Dinah]] by the Hivite prince, Shechem, the son of Hamor. The probable remnants of J [Note: Jahwist.] ’s story make it appear that the tale, as it was first told, was a very simple one. Shechem took Dinah to his house and cohabited with her, and her father and brothers resented the defilement. Shechem, acting on his own behalf, proposed marriage, promising to accept any conditions of dower her father and brothers might impose. The marriage took place, and afterwards her full brothers, Simeon and Levi, slew Shechem and took Dinah out of his house. Jacob rebuked them for this, because of the vengeance it was liable to bring upon his house. Jacob thinks only of consequences here. If, as is generally supposed, &nbsp; Genesis 49:5 ff. refers to this act, the reprimand administered was based by him not upon the dread of consequences, but upon the turpitude of a cruel revenge. </p> <p> The remaining verses of ch. 34 make Hamor spokesman for his son. He not only offered generously to make honourable amends for Shechem’s misconduct, but also proposed a mutual covenant of general intercourse, including the <em> connubium </em> . Jacob and his sons see their opportunity for revenge, and refuse, except upon the one condition that all the males of the city be circumcised. When, as a result, the latter were unable to defend themselves, all the sons of Jacob fell upon them with the sword, sparing only the women and children, whom they took captive with the spoil of the city. The words ‘two of’ and ‘Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brethren’ in &nbsp; Genesis 34:25 are interpolated (cf. &nbsp; Genesis 34:13 ). This story is clearly an elaboration of the earlier form, despite its one or two more antique touches, and suggests, moreover, the spirit at work in Ezra’s marriage reforms. </p> <p> The story, like many others, introduced as episodes in the family history of Jacob, should probably receive a tribal interpretation. Simeon and [[Levi]] are tribes. Dinah was perhaps a small [[Israelite]] clan, according to the traditions closely related to Simeon and Levi; according to the name, possibly more closely to Dan. Schechem, the prince, is the eponymous hero of the city of that name. Hamor is the name of the Hivite clan in possession of the city. The weak Israelite clan, having become detached from the related tribes, was overpowered by the Canaanite inhabitants of Shechem and incorporated. Simeon and Levi, by a wilily plotted and unexpected attack, hoped to effect its deliverance. They were momentarily successful, and inflicted a severe blow upon the Shechemites; but their temerity cost them their tribal existence. A counterattack of the [[Canaanites]] resulted immediately in the decimation of the tribe, and finally in the absorption of their remnants into the neighbouring tribes. The Dinah clan disappeared at the same time. </p> <p> James A. Craig. </p>

<p> [[Dinah]] ( ''Dî'Nah'' ), ''Judged, Acquitted,'' or ''Avenged.'' The daughter of Jacob and Leah. &nbsp;Genesis 30:21. The history of her visiting the daughters of the heathen inhabitants of the land, of her defilement by Shechem, and of the treacherous and bloody revenge taken by her brothers Simeon and Levi, are recorded in &nbsp;Genesis 34:1-31. Nothing more is certainly known of her; she probably accompanied her family into Egypt. &nbsp;Genesis 46:15. </p>

<p> (Hebrews Dinah', '''''דִּינָה''''' , judged, i.e., vindicated, from the same root as DAN; Sept. '''''Δεινά''''' ; Joseph. '''''Δεῖνα''''' , ''Ant.'' 1:21, 1), the daughter of Jacob by Leah (&nbsp;Genesis 30:21), and therefore full sister of Simeon and Levi. Born B.C. 1913. While Jacob's camp was in the neighborhood of Shechem, Dinah,, prompted by curiosity, went out "to see the daughters of the land," most probably to a festival, when she was seduced by Shechem, the son of Hamor, the Hivite chief or head-man of the town. Her age at this time, judging by the subsequent notice of Joseph's age (&nbsp;Genesis 37:2), may have been from thirteen to fifteen, the ordinary period of marriage in Eastern countries (Lane's Mod. Egypt. 1:208). [[Partly]] from dread of the consequences of his misconduct, and partly, it would seem, out of love for the damsel, he solicited a marriage with her, leaving the "marriage price", (See [[Marriage]]), to be fixed by her family. Such reparation would have been deemed sufficient under the [[Mosaic]] law (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 22:28-29) among the members of the [[Hebrew]] nation. But in this case the suitor was an alien, and the crown of the offense consisted in its having been committed by an alien against the favored people of God; he had "wrought folly in Israel" (&nbsp;Genesis 34:7). </p> <p> The proposals of Hamor, who acted as his deputy, were framed on the recognition of the hitherto complete separation of the two peoples; he proposed the fusion of the two by the establishment of the rights of intermarriage and commerce, just as among the Romans the ''Jus Connubii'' and the ''Jus Commercii'' constituted the essence of ''Civitas'' . The sons of Jacob, bent upon revenge, availed themselves of the eagerness which Shechem showed to effect their purpose; they demanded, as a condition of the proposed union, the circumcision of the Shechemites: the practice could not have been unknown to the Hiivites, for the Phoenicians (Herod, 2:104), and probably most of the Canaanitish tribes, were circumcised. Even this was therefore yielded; and Simeon and Levi took a most barbarous advantage of the compliance by falling upon the town on the third day, when the people were disabled by the effects of the operation, and slew them all (Genesis 34). For this act of truly Oriental vindictiveness no excuse can be offered, and Jacob repeatedly alludes to it with abhorrence and regret (&nbsp;Genesis 34:30; &nbsp;Genesis 49:5-7). To understand the act at all, however, it is necessary to remember that any stain upon the honor of a sister, and especially of an only sister (see Niemeyer, Charakt. 2:413 sq.), is even at this day considered as an insupportable disgrace and inexpiable offense among all the nomade tribes of Western Asia. If the woman be single, her brothers more than her father '''''—''''' if she be married, her brothers more than her husband, are aggrieved, and are considered bound, to avenge the wrong. Hence the active vengeance of Dinah's full brothers, and the comparative passiveness of her father in these: transactions. Jacob's remark (&nbsp;Genesis 49:30), however, does not imply merely guiltiness on the part of his sons in this transaction, but he dreaded the revenge of the neighboring peoples, and even of the family of Hamor, some of whom appear to have survived the massacre (&nbsp;Judges 9:28). His escape, which was wonderful, considering the extreme rigor with which the laws of blood-revenge (q.v.) have in all ages prevailed in the East, is ascribed to the special interference of [[Jehovah]] (&nbsp;Genesis 35:5). Josephus omits all reference to the treachery of the sons of Jacob, and explains the easy capture of the city as occurring during the celebration of a feast ( ''Ant.'' 1:21, 2). The object for which this narrative is introduced into the book of Genesis probably is partly to explain the allusion in &nbsp;Genesis 49:5-7, and partly to exhibit the consequences of any association on the part of the Hebrews with the heathens about them. Ewald ( ''Gesch. Isr'' . 1:40) arbitrarily assumes an actual fusion of the nomad [[Israelites]] with the aborigines of Shechem, on the ground that the daughters of the patriarchs are generally noticed with an ethnological view. It appears from &nbsp;Genesis 46:15 that Dinah continued unmarried in the patriarch's family, and accompanied him into Egypt. (See Jacob). </p>

<p> ''''' dı̄´na ''''' ( דּינה , <i> ''''' dı̄nāh ''''' </i> , "justice"): The daughter of Jacob and Leah, whose violation by Shechem, son of Hamor, caused her brothers, especially Simeon and Levi, to slay the inhabitants of Shechem, although they had induced the Shechemites to believe, if they would submit to circumcision, Shechem, the most honored of all the house of his father, would be permitted to have the maiden to whom his soul clave for wife (Gen 34:1-31). The political elements of the story (compare &nbsp;Genesis 34:21-23 and &nbsp; Genesis 34:30 ) suggest a tribal rather than a personal significance for the narrative. </p>